I considered posting this question in a reply to Michelle's thread about how people share the Gospel, but decided this was a bit too different in scope so here goes:

Lately something occurred to me: I cannot remember ever having been witnessed to in my entire adult life. Although I am a believer, and I'm not offended by this, I'd say it would be reasonable to expect that I'd have the occasional person sharing their faith with me in some way or another. It's never happened.

One could consider several factors that might explain this:

I don't get out much.I'm very introverted.One could argue, with some conviction, that God does not intend to waste the resource on an existing believer.One could argue, with more conviction, that this characterizes the area in which I live (Bay Area).One could argue, with even more conviction, that I have a face for radio.

Uh, but seriously, is my personal experience too myopic an indicator of the relative lack of evangelism, or could this be a sad commentary on what Christians don't do?

There is another possibility. You have, no doubt, met a stranger, at some time or other, whom you discovered, after brief conversation, to be a fellow believer. Thus, no witnessing followed between the two of you. It is possible that, had you been found to be an unbeliever, that person might have shared the gospel with you (I am being optimistic here).

I, personally, don't usually walk up to strangers and immediately and ask "Do you know the Lord?" It has to occur in the context of a conversation. In talking to a stranger, I find that most are either already Christians, or are not eager to talk about Christianity with a Christian (I definitely put out feelers).

I generally don't witness to people who exhibit an aversion to talking about God. Some would. Evangelism may be their gift. It is only when I find an unbeliever open to such discussion that I engage in evangelistic conversation. There may be others like me, in this respect. Many Christians you have met, and who have discovered that you are a Christian, might (conceivably) have proceeded to evangelize you had they found you not to already be a believer.

Your thoughts are on-point as usual. Certainly evangelism has a social context, and not everyone is obligated to evangelize constantly. That said, I have a couple more observations:

The only people who have ever come to my door to evangelize have been cultists; ironically, no evangelicals. I have never even been handed a tract (not in love with tracts, mind you) or other materials about the Christian faith by someone I do not know.

I'll grant you that evangelizing without a relationship is counter-intuitive and perhaps ineffective. But the balancing truth is that we live in a time where fewer people really get to know anyone, due to technology and perhaps other factors. I wonder if the present field could stand for some serious reassessment as to exactly what the open doors are, or might be, and how Christians can both work within these changes and work across them.

At the moment, it seems awfully easy for one to go through life without having received a personal witness.